A Touch of Compassion
by Hillside Dancing On
Summary: Friendless on Halloween night, when even the darkness can swallow you up, Iruka discovers he's not alone.


Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine, so please don't sue. Yaoi has drained all my money.

Author's note: Hello humans! Hope everyone's Halloween was better than mine. Either way, please enjoy this very short, slightly belated concoction. Reviewers are kind people who get 31st of October cupcakes (no candy though. I gots none ;;).

Warnings: Possible male/male, but it can be taken however you want, friendship or love. They're still babies after all.

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Chocolate is sweet and peanut butter is mellow. Cinnamon red hots are known to make your tongue sizzle, and lemon suckers turn it inside out. But tears taste like salt, and there is nothing more bitter than being alone on Halloween night. 

Iruka crouched alongside the rough, unfriendly flank of the building, knees to his chest, turning his head upwards to look at a sky that was cloudy as old milk. His little body quivered with cold as the wind assaulted his tender, moistened cheeks, no longer protected by the light black fabric of his costume.

The road was out of sight, not too far away but hidden by a wall of shrubbery that seemed as if it were there only to keep him from a world he didn't belong in. But no plants could stop him from hearing, and the sounds of laughing children drifted to him with perfect clarity. Calls to friends, comments on one another's costumes, and plans for the long night ahead all felt surreal to Iruka now.

He wanted to blame Mizuki more than anything. The two could not truthfully be called best friends; rather they were a pair that stuck together in a strange, symbiotic relationship that only a nine and twelve year old could have devised. Good company it certainly wasn't. But that hadn't affected the punch to the gut Iruka swore he felt upon learning that the white haired boy had abandoned their plans. He cursed himself for being so needy when he realized Mizuki intended to go off and spend the night with a few new friends, wanting to say something assertive but holding his tongue and hoping his friend would have a change of heart.

The memory made him feel sick. He, Umino Iruka, was a little puppy left on the roadside.

No wonder nobody wanted to be seen with him.

If nothing else, it could be said that his miniature grim reaper costume was a thousand blessings. Behind a mask, nobody can see tears gathering in your eyes. Iruka roughly drew a grubby hand across his cheek, filled with fresh loathing for himself, for Mizuki, for this holiday in general.

He had not been aware of the sound of foot on grass. It was unexpected that anyone should find him after all, in this little secluded spot behind the building, his shield of shadow.

"Hey."

Iruka jumped nearly a foot in the air. His head swung to the right, to the left, settled on the boy standing over him. Three years his senior, eyes lazy despite the knife handle that seemed to grow out of his chest, face a mess of gory monster makeup that had become smudged during the course of the night. His silver hair bounced as he cocked his head to the side inquisitively.

"You ok?"

Iruka nodded shyly, head down, not taking the risk that came with speaking. His voice was sure to be cracked. A sudden wave of embarrassment came over him at the thought of being seen in this state, and he waited for the other to leave, as he was bound to do now that he'd made sure the little boy he'd found was in fact alive. But that didn't happen. The boy stood there, one hand holding his bulgy pillow sack of Halloween spoils.

The other was held out to Iruka.

His inky eyes widened, blinking in disbelief--but no more than twice. Tentatively, he entwined his hand with the one Hatake Kakashi offered him. He received a smile, gentle and so reassuring that he couldn't help but return it. It was incredible, really, the way he could smile after a day when he had been so sure that he would never smile again, and yet the first thing to come to his mind was amazement.

Even after a night exposed to the autumn chill, the hand of friendship could be so warm.

End


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